Permeate is the low pressure part
2 Likes
Low pressure parts of a system are still subject to high pressure when stuff goes wrong. Also, it is under pressure. 180 GPM through a 1"(?) hose has pressure. Maybe not enough to worry about, but there is certainly pressure. If you can fill a 55 gallon drum with permeate in less than 20 seconds, how can you say there is no pressure?
Also, not trying to be a nay sayer or rain on your parade, just trying to understand a bit more.
3 Likes
When we are talking about “pressure” we are usually talking about something far in excess of atmospheric. In this case, we have less than 20 psi in that hose.
If pressure became greater somehow, the permeation would slow to a stop as pressure from the feed side equalized with the permeate side. This would be bad for your membrane, but not dangerous. I don’t know how one would induce this other than to completely block the permeate outlet hose. We have pressure relief valves and pump motor shut offs to prevent any of that in the first place. You would have to hack our machine in several different ways to get there.
We have machines operating in the field for about 2 years now with no safety incidents.
EDIT: My mistake on the previous reply. GPH, not GPM.